Second HD questions?

[gafirefighter]

I was shocked when I contacted Dell today and they told me that I could install a second HD without voiding the warranty. They also spent another 15 minutes trying to sell me this drive, but that is not going to happen. So as you can tell I have decided to put a second drive in my system. I basically want to use this drive as a back-up to the C drive and to stock various other files.

My current drive is 640Gb and while it is a large drive it is not quite large enough. Right after I transferred all my files onto my external drive to load onto this new computer it decided to fail. Somehow I was able to get it working long enough to get the files transferred onto the new system. Now I wan to back them up. I will also be putting them onto a new external drive because some things I just can not get back and I do not want them in one place.

So here is what I am looking for. I would like to add a 1TB second drive to the system. First I wanted to see what you all recommend as the best bang for the buck. Second, what is the best way of using this as a back up? I am not opposed to transferring files manually, but it sure would be nice to have the system do it for me. Unfortunately I am not too familiar with RAID and I do not know if I could even set it up without formatting the original drive.

Thanks for any help.

Adam

[gafirefighter]

I see that once a new drive is installed I can use the Back-up Restore Center in the Control Panel. That seems that it will copy all files over that I select. Just wondering, if once this is done, what will happen the next time I back it up? Will it copy all files again or will it only back up those that have not yet been copied?

Thanks,

Adam

[glc]

I would recommend that as long as the 640gb drive is big enough for everything, you use an external for backing it up. I would recommend this housing:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817362003

It comes with an OEM version of Acronis True Image, which is excellent backup software. It will make a complete compressed image of the entire internal drive. Just buy a 1tb SATA drive to install in the housing - I'd recommend a Western Digital Green.

Totally agree with glc, go external, what Dell says on the phone now and what they would say if you had issue's could be totally different.

[gafirefighter]

Thanks for the great information. I just have a couple more questions. Every time I back up the drive will it copy all files or just what is new? Or will I just need to remove the old backed up files? Also, is there an advantage to that system over getting a complete external drive?

Thanks again,

Adam

[glc]

It will create a new full image every time you run the software. The image is a single file that's explorable and selectively or completely restorable. If you want to do incremental backups, you can buy the retail version of Acronis True Image, and schedule your backups to run automatically.

The reason I recommend a separate housing and drive is for warranty issues - if you buy a prebuilt external you cannot open the housing to remove the drive without voiding the warranty. Generally, hard drives are more reliable than the housing, and if the housing dies, you can pull the drive and recover your data. Also, that housing is higher quality than any prebuilt I've seen. It's aluminum, not plastic, and has an internal cooling fan.

[gafirefighter]

Just wondering if this also has the option to drag and drop like plug and play external drives?

I was also wondering what you think about just getting something like a 320GB pocket drive and using someone like Carbonite to back up files? I like you idea and that will more than likely be the way I go. I just want to look into all the options.

Thanks for the help once again,

Adam

[glc]

It *IS* a plug and play external drive. It's just you build it yourself and can swap drives in and out of the housing.

[gafirefighter]

Thanks for all the help. That case seems like a great way to go. I checked it out on their site and they actually sell it cheaper with a drive installed than I can set it up. I e-mailed them to find out what drive they are putting in it. They said currently they are using a WD 7200 Rpm Drive. Not sure if I will set it up or if I will just buy it whole, but once again I appreciate all the help.

Thanks,

Adam

[glc]

If you buy it with a drive already installed, it will only have a 1 year warranty on both the case and the drive..........

[Panama Red]

Just another vote for the Apricorn enclosure with separately installed hard drive. That's my choice for customer backup solutions too. However, I've been buying the enclosures directly from Apricorn rather than Newegg. No MIR's to deal with and the shipping is resonable. Most hard drives from Newegg have Free Shippiing so that doesn't affect the overall price. $39 directly from Apricorn with no rebates.

http://www.apricorn.com/product_deta...e=family&id=56

[glc]

Assembly instructions are not included. It's very easy, but may not be immediately intuitive. I had to download the manual -

http://www.apricorn.com/pdf_product_...top_Manual.pdf

and when I looked at it, it became obvious.

[gafirefighter]

I am glad that there a people on here that see some more important things and are able to look past price. I was not even thinking about the differences in warranties. Last question and then the order will be placed. Would there be any advantage to getting the black drive over the green?

Thanks again for everything.

Adam

[glc]

In an external housing, the only advantage to the Black over the Green is a longer warranty - 5 years instead of 3 years.